Why is OneNote on my new computer so ugly and I can't change the display settings?

Scout Arora 20 Reputation points
2025-11-04T00:25:24.76+00:00

why.PNG

Hi, I would like to move my tabs to the right side of OneNote but this option is greyed out. It is available on my old Windows laptop, so why is it greyed out on my new Windows laptop?

The new display is awful and hard to use--I want the tabs displayed at the top as well. I hate this version of OneNote, it's so boring and not colourful. Microsoft® OneNote® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2510 Build 16.0.19328.20144) 64-bit. I'm using Windows 10.

How do I get the version/setting where the colourful tabs are displayed at the top (just below the toolbar)?

Like this:

Versions | CustomGuide

Thanks so much for your help.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows
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Answer accepted by question author
Xavier-D 12,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2025-11-04T05:29:44.3466667+00:00

Hello Scout Arora,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum

I can see that your OneNote Horizontal Tab layout options are grayed out, It's because you're in Vertical Tabs mode.

Here is how to switch to Horizontal Tabs:

  1. Open OneNote.
  2. Go to View > Tabs Layout > Horizontal Tabs.
  • This will move section tabs back to the top.

Feel free to reply back to this post in the add comment section if you require further assistance. I'll be happy to help.

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  1. Scout Arora 20 Reputation points
    2025-11-05T07:01:30.0133333+00:00

    Thank you so much Xavier, you resolved the problem of the horizontal tabs not showing up.

    However, there now appears to be no option to have the notebooks displayed on the left (I went into settings and nothing changed when 'show notebook list on the left' was selected or not). I'm unable to see my list of notebooks which I also want to see so I can easily switch between them.

    User's image

    Do you know how I can fix this?

    Thanks so much for your time, I really appreciate it.

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